Dhammapada verse 412
Chapter 26, Brahmins (Brāhmaṇavagga) · verses 383–423
“They’ve escaped the chain of both good and bad deeds; sorrowless, stainless, pure: that’s who I declare a brahmin.”
Yodha puññañca pāpañca, ubho saṅgamupaccagā; Asokaṁ virajaṁ suddhaṁ, tamahaṁ brūmi brāhmaṇaṁ.
English by Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, via SuttaCentral)
What does Dhammapada verse 412 mean?
Verse 412 belongs to chapter 26, Brahmins (Brāhmaṇavagga), which gathers verses 383–423 on the true brahmin. It is filed under suffering & grief, purity & stains. Read it with the verses around it: the Dhammapada arranges chapters as short runs, not as isolated lines, so verse 411 and verse 413 are part of the same passage.
Forty-one verses on the true brahmin, and the final and longest chapter. Its argument is a sustained redefinition: you are not a brahmin by birth, by hair or by ancestry, but by what you have done and given up. It closes the book by taking the highest title available and handing it to the person who has ended the work.
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